


Sick day

by Narcissisticpeacock



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Nadine caring for her partner, Sick Character, because..... she loves her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-01 12:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18799921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narcissisticpeacock/pseuds/Narcissisticpeacock
Summary: After the beating she took in the search for the tusk, Chloe wakes up sick. It's a good thing she has her partner to look after her.





	Sick day

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a prompt sitting in my ask box for months.... for a sick Chloe being taken care of. And I finally felt a muse for it!

“You look like death warmed over.”

“You're a horrible flirt, China.”

Chloe's voice is still rough from sleep. She not so much as walks but limps her way to the stove to put a kettle on. Bruises have bloomed in purple on much of the skin Nadine can see, including a nasty one on her cheek. Every movement seems pained, though she's hiding it fairly well. Probably she's used to this sort of thing. Probably she avoids signs of weakness like these. Nadine can understand it, but she'd rather Chloe not hurt herself further. There's no need for her to hide it when they're alone together. There's too much trust for that.

Nadine catches her shiver as she fills the kettle, the tell-tale sign of a fever. It's the final straw.

“Alright, back in bed,” she orders.

“I suppose that's a bit better than your last line.”

“Frazer.”

“What?” she whines. “I want tea.”

“I'll make it. You need more rest.”

Chloe raises an eyebrow, skeptical of Nadine. She dons that crooked grin. It doesn’t work as well when she looks like she’s about to fall over. “I'm fine, China, just need some caffeine and I'll be right as rain.”

Nadine closes the distance between them and presses the inside of her wrist to Chloe's forehead. “You're burning up.”

Chloe purses her lips. “I'm fine. Nothing a little tea and breakfast can't fix.”

“Bed,” Nadine orders in a stern voice.

Chloe shivers again.

She regains her composure and huffs. “I mean, I thought the wrist was inconclusive? Thought you had to use your lips to find out if someone had a fever or not?”

It's a challenge, and Nadine  _ could _ ignore it, but instead, she meets it. She just raises an eyebrow and says “If I kiss your forehead, will you get back in bed?” She’s more focused on Chloe getting better than Chloe’s flirtatious attitude. If she continues on her day like this, she’ll only exacerbate her condition.

Chloe seems genuinely surprised at being called out. She frowns. “And what about you? You took a beating too.”

“Not near as bad as yours. And I don’t have a fever.”

“Nadine--” She cuts off and reels back, suddenly dizzy. “Oh.”

Nadine steadies her with one hand on her arm. “Please, go back to bed. I’ll make you some tea.”

Chloe sighs, looking even more tired as she gives up. “Fine. But can I still have that kiss?”

Nadine chuckles but nods. “As soon as you’re back in bed.”

She guides Chloe to lay down. Only when she’s tucked back under the blankets does Nadine lean down and press a kiss to her forehead. Her forehead is hot with the telltale sign of a fever. “You’re definitely sick.”

“Kisses make me feel better.”

With another roll of her eyes, she heads for the stove. “You’ll have to do with tea. I’m not getting sick too.”

Chloe manages a chuckle. “That means when I’m better, you’ll kiss me?”

Nadine focuses on turning on the stove. Her attraction to the woman over the last couple of weeks has been, well, undeniable. But she wonders often if Chloe is flirting for fun or with actual intentions. She sort of hopes it’s real. Chloe is…  _ lovely,  _ to say the least.

With the water heating, Nadine returns to Chloe.

“How are you feeling? The truth, please.”

Chloe purses her lips as she most likely considers lying, but she still answers. “Achey. My ribs hurt. Next time I go to fight a warlord, stop me, would you?”

Nadine chuckles. “Ja, I can do that. You cold?”

She grins. “If I say yes will you join me here? Keep me warm yourself?” She just receives an unimpressed stare. “... Yes, I’m cold.”

Nadine grabs the blankets off her own bed and tosses them over Chloe. “I’ll get you painkillers. I’ve got arnica cream too, for the worst of your bruises.”

“You’re an  _ angel _ , China.”

Nadine sort of wonders how she got where she is; a hotel room in India with a beautiful woman in bed-- but not  _ her _ bed-- and a starting career in treasure hunting. Further, she’s taking care of this woman, her partner, in a way that denotes a closeness Nadine isn’t sure that they have.

And yet, they do have that closeness, don’t they? They’ve spent the last two weeks out in the jungle together, killing men, protecting each other, and sharing things they haven’t shared with anyone else in years.

Nadine is glad for it, she decides. There are things she’s been able to say near Chloe without judgment. Nadine can say an animal fact and Chloe will listen, even ask follow up questions. She’s never poked fun at the hobby, never made Nadine feel bad about it. It's been a long time since she had that.

Nadine brings Chloe her tea along with a couple of painkillers. She sets a container of arnica cream on the nightstand.

Chloe thanks her and sits up, a pained look on her face. She downs the pills with a mouthful of tea before grabbing for the arnica.

With her partner settled, Nadine goes about digging into her suitcase for a change of clothes but freezes when she hears Chloe make a soft sound of pain.

She’s got one arm bent to spread arnica on her back, but she’s pulled at some injury or other.

“Do you need help?”

Chloe looks like she’s going to deny the offer, but she sighs. “Yeah.”

Nadine drops what she’s doing and moves back to Chloe’s side. She sits on the bed just behind Chloe and takes her hand, getting what she can of the cream off it.

Chloe tugs at her own shirt. “Help me get this off?”

Nadine’s cheeks turn a bit pink, but she uses her free hand to guide the shirt up and over Chloe’s head. She’s wearing a fashionable red bra, but Nadine is more focuses on her bruises. Most are turning blue and purple in blossoms over her golden skin. The worst of it is on her left side, at her ribs. It's an ugly swatch of deep purple lined with an angry red.

Chloe has some cuts too, but they’d bandaged them last night, before pizza with Meenu. The few bandages look to have held up. She’ll have to check on the cuts tomorrow; she’d rather not put Chloe through that annoyance right now.

“Where first?” Nadine asks in a quiet voice.

“How bad is the one on my shoulder?”

“Right or left?”

“Right.”

“Not terrible. Still looks painful.”

Chloe lets out a slow breathe. “That one.”

Nadine keeps her touch gentle. She has no interest in causing Chloe more pain than she's already had.

“I don't get it,” comes the complaint. “Why am I laid up in bed but you can still move around as you please? You got the crap kicked out of you too.”

Nadine chuckles and moves on to the next bruise. “I've got some bruises too.”

“Not nearly as many as me. And you aren't light-headed with fever.”

Nadine is busy mapping a path over Chloe's back, planning which bruises to cover next. “I’m darker skinned-- can’t see as many of mine. And you took more blows. Maybe don't have as good a diet as me? Have to get plenty of vitamin c, zinc, and what not to keep yourself from bruising too much. Also keeps you from getting sick.”

Chloe groans, making Nadine pause, but it's a theatrical groan, apparently. “You and your balanced diet. What, you mean I shouldn't eat sweets all the time? Next you'll tell me soda is bad for me.”

“It is.”

She tries to chuckle but ends with a soft noise of pain-- too much for her ribs to take at the moment. “Don't worry, China… I don't even drink soda.”

Nadine rolls her eyes. “We'll have to get you vitamins. Take them and you won't feel quite as bad after jobs like this.”

“Ugh, I'll have to set a timer to remember them every day. Never been good with things like that.”

She's thankful Chloe seems willing for it. It's a strange sort if protectiveness Nadine has developed for Chloe since they met, but Chloe making some things easier for her, makes things feel better.

“Don't worry, bokkie. I'll make sure you take them.”

Chloe hums, leaning against Nadine. The way she is now has one of Nadine's arms with access to her back. The other is very gently holding across the front of Chloe's waist.

“You're warm…” Her mumble is soft and almost involuntary.

Nadine gulps. Chloe makes her feel impossible things it seems.

“As soon as I'm done with this, we'll get you back under the blankets. Promise.”

“You're better,” Chloe pouts.

Nadine doesn't respond.

It's a few long moments later that Chloe speaks up again.

“The Tusk is still there, right?”

Nadine nods still focused on her work. She’s already checked five times since waking up. “Ja.”

“You're sure?”

“Want me to grab it?”

“... No. Rather keep you right here.”

Nadine hums and tries not to think too hard on all this. She cares about Chloe so terribly much. The way the woman acts tests the strength of her inhibitions. A weaker woman would've lost to Chloe's charm in a matter of hours. Nadine, she's lasted some weeks now.

But Chloe is still winning this, isn't she?

There's a knock on the door. Half a second later, Sam's irritating voice rings out. “C'mon, ladies. Let's go lose money by giving that damn thing away.”

He seems spiteful of the choice, but Nadine doesn't give a damn. She meets Chloe's eyes. “Think he'll leave if we ignore him?”

“Probably not,” she mumbles.

Nadine gives a short nod. “I'll go scare him off.”

Chloe frowns at the loss of heat as Nadine pulls away. She tugs the blankets a bit closer but otherwise remains as she is, sitting more or less upright in bed if slumped over a bit.

Nadine opens the door but uses her body to block the opening. One hand on the doorknob, she puts her opposite arm against the door frame. He can't even see into the room more than to the side wall.

“What do you want?” she asks with a scowl.

Sam frowns. “Thought we were going to bring you-know-what to the ministry? I want my-- well, it'll end up being like two dollars and a handful of pocket lint. But if you two are forcing us to--”

“Not doing that today.” Nadine settles a bit harder into the door frame, in case he decides to try pushing past her.

“What? Why?”

“Chloe doesn't feel well. We'll do it when she's better.”

“Well, what's wrong?”

He acts as if he's going to enter the room, but she stays firm in his way. “Fever. I'm taking care of her. You can crawl back under whatever rock you came out from.”

“Yikes. I guess uh… need anything?”

Is he actually trying to be helpful? Nadine can never tell with him. But he could also just be concerned that he hasn’t heard from Chloe all day and here Nadine is standing so he can’t even see into the room.

Maybe he thinks she's killed Chloe and that's why he's not allowed in. Maybe that’s why he’s still here, near insisting he see Chloe. He thinks that little of Nadine. That whole line he’d said about her backstabbing them-- she was never the one to do that. That was Rafe and Orca. And Sam.

She despises him.

Chloe may consider him a friend, but Nadine stays in the doorway, blocking his entry. She's not moving unless Chloe wants her to.

“Sam,” Chloe's voice calls out from behind Nadine. “If you come in here while my shirt is off, I'll let Nadine feed you your own balls.”

Nadine turns a touch pink, but she smirks. “Totsiens.”

She tries to close the door but he stops it. “Wait-- ignoring  _ whatever _ it is you two are doing-- which I don't want to know about! When are we going with the tusk--”

“In a couple of days. When she feels better.”

“I only have my room one more night!”

“Don’t care. Find other arrangements.” She gives him a sharp shove in the center of his chest to clear him of the door frame and closes it before he can react.

She hears a muffled “rude!” from outside the door, but she still turns back to Chloe.

Chloe is curled in on herself and shaking.

Nadine panics for a moment, but she realizes it’s just Chloe muffling laughter. She lets it out a moment later. “Oh, love, that  _ was _ very rude, but Jesus, it was great.”

Her cheeks are still a bit pink as she returns to Chloe’s side. Her partner curls back against her, still giggling.

“You practically gave me permission to get him out,” Nadine mumbles as an excuse.

Chloe nods. “I did, but still.”

“He deserves it.”

“He--” She cringes, hand going to her side. She makes a quiet pained sound.

“Are you okay?” Nadine asks, worried. The levity they’d had for those few moments is gone.

“Ribs are killing me.” Her voice is soft again.

Nadine grabs the arnica cream again. “Here. Or do you want me to help again?”

Chloe hums. “I could do it myself, but…”

“You'd rather I do it.”

“... Please?”

Nadine gives in. She’s already helped with Chloe’s back so why not her front too? Chloe shifts, resting her head on Nadine’s shoulder and giving her better access to her front.

With the tenderest of touches, Nadine rubs the arnica cream into the ugly bruise at Chloe’s ribs. If any are cracked, it’ll take her longer to be pain-free, but this will help for now. It’ll ease the pain long enough for her to get some rest.

Chloe makes a soft sound and Nadine jerks her hand away.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

She’s tired, half asleep against her side. “Not a bad noise.” Of course she’s shameless. Her voice is soft and barely there. “Feels very good.”

“You should get some rest once I’m done.”

“Keep me company?”

Nadine purses her lips. Does she give Chloe this? It could be too much. But she’s sick and with everything they’ve been through, it’s not a sacrifice of personal space more than it is a way to comfort her partner. It wouldn’t hurt to lay with her, not for a little while.

“For a bit.”

“More than I thought I’d get. I’ll take it.”

Nadine bites her tongue. Chloe doesn’t need to know that she could probably get almost anything from her at this point.

Once done, Nadine helps Chloe lay down and takes the spot beside her.

“If I get sick from this…”

Chloe scoffs. She's tenderly adjusting herself against Nadine. “Then I'll take care of you.” Her voice is soft and sleepy. She settles heavy against Nadine, a burning source of heat on her skin. It'd feel nicer if Chloe wasn't sick.

“Like I believe that.”

Chloe doesn't answer. She's already asleep.

Nadine runs her fingers through her hair. “Feel better, Chloe.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Find me on tumblr as Chloe-Gayzer.


End file.
